The Worst War

It’s believed that during both the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War, Israeli Air Force pilots engaged Soviet MiG pilots. Not Egyptian or Syrian pilots, but actual air combat with Russians.

The Israelis won those encounters.

It appears they might be preparing to face their most vicious enemy since then, as Iran’s presence in the hellhole once known as Syria escalates the possibilities.

“When on a given day, the chance for [active military conflict with Iran] are about one percent, now it is about 10%,” former prime minister and defense minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday.

More than anything, it is Israel’s audaciousness that is keeping the enemy off its feet. “Honor” of course is mega-important in Muslim culture, and boy, their honor takes a hit against the IDF.

Monday’s “mysterious” attack of an Iranian drone section of a Syrian base left seven dead, including an Iranian colonel. The Iranians commanded the site.

In the aftermath, the usual tough talk from the Iranians. Their proxies in the region have stockpiled a quarter-million rockets, but please know, there isn’t an army or group of advisors (hint: Russia) that wants a conflict with Israel. More than likely, Iran will do what it always does: attack Israel and the West via those proxies spread around the world.

According to a report from The Times of Israel:

“’The Iranians will probably respond to the strike attributed to Israel, even if not immediately,’ reasoned Amos Yadlin, the head of the Institute for National Security Studies. ‘Iran will consider launching an official retaliation for the attacks on its soldiers this time in order to deter Israel from continuing to strike Iranian forces in Syria.’

“If and when the Iranians decide to attack Israel, he added, they will not do so from their own territory. ‘The possible theaters for doing so are Syria, Lebanon, or anywhere else around the globe, and Iran may employ its characteristic use of terror proxies.’

Still, with Syria becoming a terror and military base for several countries (Bashar Assad long ago lost control of his country, and it’s thought he might even have fled this week), it isn’t unthinkable that a regional war could break out.

“Jonathan Schanzer, the senior vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, also predicted a looming ‘showdown’ between Israel and Iran on Syrian soil, going so far as anticipating the Middle East’s ‘worst war’ in decades.”

To get an idea just how complicated—and busy—Syria has become, consider that in the past several days, the Turkish army has coordinated with Syrian forces to take over the Afrin enclave in the north. They had entered the city of Tall Rifat, east of Afrin, and the…Kurdish fighters holding it for them handed it over!

And while President Trump has touted the destruction of ISIS in the region, the bloody monsters of that terror group are not totally eliminated. They are taking advantage of the chaos by launching guerrilla attacks against the Syrian army.

All this represents one of the more complex and dangerous situations Israel has faced in awhile. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his ministers to stay quiet about Israeli security issues, but everyone can see the situation could escalate out of control at any time.

Maybe I’m in a new season of life—maybe it’s just getting older!—but while these things must be so, we as believers are not to let our spirits be unsettled. This is an almost constant thought of mine these days. I remember when prophecy watchers thought Gog-Magog might break out.

In 1982.

The Soviets had stockpiled weaponry in Lebanon, but it was discovered by the Israelis when they invaded the country to drive out the PLO.

There have been, unfortunately, many such moments in the past decades.

But we are on the threshold of Israel’s 70^th birthday celebrations and that in itself is an astonishing miracle.

A reminder that the Lord of History watches.

The worst war? Let us continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and for the coming of the Prince of Peace, to usher-in an eternity that will never know war anymore.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

 

 

 

The Vulture Has Landed

Well, it’s come to America.

Of course.

The “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference, which promotes the PLO view of the Arab-Israeli conflict, has grown beyond its Bethlehem-based borders.

In October, 2018, the group will come to…Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

My old hometown. Middle America. The Heartland.

This is very smart on the part of the CATC, with its odious political statement reflected in the use of the name of Jesus Christ. For years, I’ve researched groups like this, and it is dismaying that the wider Evangelical community in America lets it happen. Where are the voices of leadership in opposition?

The fact is, leftist ideology has infested the Evangelical community. As I’ve been saying for a very long time, when famous leaders like Bill and Lynne Hybels, World Vision, and now others like Jonathan Merritt and Ann Voskamp give sympathy to causes like this, we end up with a virulently anti-Israel group in our midst.

It’s not 1975 anymore, for sure.

The pricey registration ($300) is curious. Surely, Mahmoud Abbas could earmark some money to help—if he weren’t paying the murderers of Jews.

The 1^st national conference of CATC will meet from October 15-18, at the Tower Hotel. Not surprisingly, a United Methodist group is helping. Rev. Darrell Cates, a UMC elder who now works for the United Methodist Oklahoma Foundation, like his friends, cannot bring himself to say “Jews” or “Israel”:

“In more than twenty years of leading groups to experience the land of the Bible, I’ve discovered a community of Jesus followers seeking to live out a vital and faithful witness who are largely discounted and forgotten. Christ at the Checkpoint USA is an effort to tell their story.”

They’re telling their story, all right. It is the Palestinian Narrative. This will no doubt be another left-wing confab featuring a litany of speakers claiming to be “pro peace.”

True pro-peace would be dismantling the PLO/PA and repenting of blaming Israel for everything.

Cates is director of conference and church relations. I hope Bible-based pastors in Oklahoma will oppose this loud and long.

Please avail yourself of the online literature with regard to CATC, and let Rev. Cates know how you feel.

From its website, this “CATCUSA” group describes itself this way:

“We are a community of evangelical Christians who believe that following Jesus with integrity means that our lives are formed by our love for God, the teaching of the Bible and a fearless life of discipleship in the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We believe that one of the first hallmarks of discipleship is love for both our own community and for our enemies. We wish to find Jesus at the center of everything we do and to make his life our life. Which means finding courageous love for Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews alike.

“We also believe that our discipleship requires a prophetic voice. We feel compelled to address the injustices that have taken place in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, particularly the Palestinian lands under occupation. We gather with many communities from around the world to say that our present circumstances are intolerable and do not reflect the righteousness of the Kingdom of God. We abhor violence. And we believe that standing up nonviolently to injustice is an acceptable expression of our faith.

“We do not condemn the Jewish people and we reject any forms of anti-Semitism. In fact, there are many Israeli Jews who believe that the present Israeli treatment of the Palestinians does not reflect the deeper moral values of Judaism itself. We simply wish to find a life in the entire Holy Land that is free of discrimination and injustice, where each person can live without prejudice toward their race or religion. This also means we reject theologies that lead to discrimination or privileges based on ethnicity. Worldviews that promote divine national entitlement or exceptionalism do not promote the values of the Kingdom of God because they place nationalism above Jesus.

“Since 2010, under the leadership of Bethlehem Bible College and led by Palestinian Christians, an international conference has been held every other year exploring the obstacles to peace in our world and the opportunities for peace-making that spring from our Christian faith. We join with this effort by holding a similar conference in the US. We pray that we are faithful to Jesus and regularly confess our shortcomings when we fail to exhibit Jesus’ highest call to love. We also call upon evangelical Christians everywhere to join us in the hope that we can build a better world where goodness and truth reign free and where the love and fairness of God are common.

“We invite you to join us in October, 2018 in Oklahoma City, OK. We hope you will join Christians from all over the United States from a wide diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints. We believe that the conversations that begin in these gatherings will result in the hope we need in our world.”

Here is the group’s “manifesto”:

THE CHRIST AT THE CHECKPOINT MANIFESTO 

1. The Kingdom of God has come. Evangelicals must reclaim the prophetic role in bringing peace, justice and reconciliation in Palestine and Israel. 

2. Reconciliation recognizes God’s image in one another. 

3. Racial ethnicity alone does not guarantee the benefits of the Abraham Covenant. 

4. The church in the land of the Holy One has borne witness to Christ since the days of Pentecost. It must be empowered to continue to be light and salt in the region, if there is to be hope in the midst of conflict. 

5. Any exclusive claim to land of the Bible in the name of God is not in line with the teaching of scripture. 

6. All forms of violence must be refuted unequivocally. 

7. Palestinian Christians must not lose the capacity for self-criticism if they wish to remain prophetic. 

8. There are real injustices taking place in the Palestinian territories, and the suffering of the Palestinian people can no longer be ignored. Any solution must respect the equity and rights of Israeli and Palestinian communities. 

9. For Palestinian Christians, the occupation is the core issue of the conflict. 

10. Any challenge to the injustices taking place in the Holy Land must be done in Christian love. Criticism of Israel and the occupation cannot be confused with anti-Semitism and the delegitimization of the State of Israel. 

11. Respectful dialogue between Palestinian and Messianic believers must continue. Though we may disagree on secondary matters of theology, the gospel of Jesus and his ethical teaching take precedence. 

12. Christians must understand the global context for the rise of extremist Islam. We challenge stereotyping of all faith forms that betray God’s commandment to love our neighbors and enemies.

I’m surprised all this wasn’t drafted in the Kremlin. Let’s look at a few things from the CATCUSA descriptions:

• They describe themselves as “evangelical Christians.” By identifying with mainstream, rank-and-file evangelicals in America, they present themselves as part of the Fam. One of us. This is a way to burrow-into evangelical churches.

It forces some of us to find another way to self-identify, other than “evangelical.”

• Notice that they refer to “Palestine.” Such a place does not exist; to use the term is to tip your hand that you are a political tool of the Left. And anti-Israel.

• Allegedly, the “occupation” is the source of problems in the Middle East, not Arab intransigence and anti-Jew hatred.

• They don’t “abhor violence,” or they would demand an end to the PLO/PA.

• Notice the gobbledygook about rejecting anti-Semitism. I’ve never heard one of these people lament the murder of Jewish men, women, and children in the Land of Israel. The mentors of the CATC are the most anti-Semitic people on the planet.

• Christians must understand the global context for the rise of extremist Islam!

This is shocking, and dangerous. The “global context” is that Islam itself seeks to dominate and enslave, all for the false god, Allah. That self-described evangelicals peddle this dhimmi attitude is grotesque.

The organizers of this unholy conference are either dupes, suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, or complicit in the evil of the PLO.

I call on Christians United for Israel, The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, Bridges for Peace, and Friends of Israel—along with pro Israel churches and individuals—to publicly oppose this conference.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com